Save Me
by groovychic97
Summary: So care to explain how you got here Granger?” Two enemies wake up with no recollection of the night before, and something is not right. Will anybody be able to save Hermione, and if they can, will it be the person she expects? DMHG
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise I don't own**

**This is rated M for a reason (for later chapters) If you don't agree or like what that implies, then don't read this story.**

She woke up with a content smile on her face. She had not yet opened her eyes, and she felt a nice, warm feeling, not moving from the bed. She was lying on her stomach, her chest over somebody else's and her back covered by their arm. As she opened her eyes, she started to realise something was wrong with this situation. She hadn't gone to sleep with anybody else the previous night, and her room certainly did not look like this. Come to think of it, who was this person beneath her that gave her such good feelings only moments before?

As she focussed on the other inhabitant on the bed she screamed and jumped up in horror. It was only then that the sleeping person started to stir, and it was only as he started to open his eyes that the she realised she was not wearing any clothes.

"What the fuck?" Those words, screamed at the top of her lungs, had jolted him into consciousness. He looked around and knew that he had certainly not been in this particular room before, but just put it down, as always, to having way too much to drink the night before and crashing at someone else's house. That had happened plenty of times before and he knew how to handle it. He might even be able to score another round with the girl before he left, who ever she was. A smirk began to form, until he remembered how he woke up; he had **never** awoken to such a reaction as the one that had just occurred. He prided himself on being such a considerate lover, regardless of the type of slut he was bedding, so why would someone, after an obviously wonderful night, wake up yelling like that.

What he didn't know is he would have gotten his answer if only he turned around and looked at the now fully dressed girl that was critically observing him at that moment. One look would have told him not to say what he was planning to. Instead, he decided to unknowingly put his foot in it.

"Mmm, sweetie you were awesome last night, the best I've had in a long time. You want to have another round before I leave?"

There was a long pause after he said this. He had not yet looked at this girl as his back was facing her so he just thought that she was getting ready for another round with him. He was not, however, expecting the response he got.

"I don't know what you did to me last night Malfoy, and you are a sick bastard if you enjoyed it, but I assure you I would never go another round with you for the rest of my life. When I find out what you did, you can bet your sorry ass that I will make you pay. I can't believe you planned this whole thing. What did you do to me? Drug me? It had to have been something like that because I would never get into your bed willingly. But if I'm the best you've had then you must have been desperate enough to do something this low."

Her voice sounded so familiar to Draco, but he couldn't quite place it. He turned over to look at her and he recognised her immediately. He caught her eye and there was a flash of an unexplainable emotion. They froze, staring at each other, unable to move and both not knowing how they got into this situation. Only two words came out of his mouth, in a half whisper, which broke the current spell they were under.

"Hermione Granger"

"Wait."

Hermione had turned to walk out the door, disgusted with the thought of waking um in the arms of her long time enemy, when she heard him. His voice was not his usual harsh and insulting voice, but more innocent and hopeful. After convincing herself this was all his doing and she was the innocent party in the events of the previous night, all she wanted was to just keep walking, to leave and never come back, but her curiosity about what he so desperately wanted to say to her won the internal battle and she turned around silent, waiting for an explanation.

"I don't know how this happened. I can't remember anything about last night. Actually I don't think I have ever even been in this room before. I have enough girls to satisfy me under normal conditions that I don't need to stoop to such low levels, to drug you just so I can sleep with you, I am not desperate. So care to explain how you got here Granger?"

He had watched Hermione as he had said this wanting to see her reaction, but instead all he had seen was the impression that she had found something very interesting on her hand, the way she stared at it, and nothing else. She started to fidget, and tried to do something to her hand. He knew she was uncomfortable about what happened; after all she was the Griffindor princess who was known to be a prude, why else would she be acting this way. He wanted to play with her a bit, make her feel bad about this whole thing and torture her a bit, but he found he just couldn't be bothered.

"Look Granger, just tell me what happened last night and then you can leave, I don't want you around any more than you have to be."

Hermione looked unfazed by what he was saying, it was almost as if she wasn't listening to him, still concentrating on her left hand. Eventually however, she looked up and straight in Draco's eyes, deadly serious.

"Is there anything different about your left hand?"

Hermione kept staring at him, desperately hoping for some sign of recognition or at least a smirk telling her that this was all a joke, because she was getting worried. She was in a strange place she had never been in before, she had just woken up next to Draco Malfoy and not only that but she had just noticed a tattoo on her left hand and she couldn't get it off. Malfoy said he had no idea what happened either and she wasn't sure she could believe him. However his face, which had just started to look worried as he looked at his hand, began to confirm that he had no idea what happened either. All she knew was that two identical marks had appeared on their left hands, and they couldn't take them off. That could only mean one of two things in the wizarding world; either someone was playing a horrific joke on the both of them, or they had gotten married last night.

"Look Granger. This has to be a joke. Just tell me what you did and then we can reverse it. I promise I won't hex you or anything." Draco Malfoy's voice was almost unnaturally calm, in fact, so calm it could be deemed threatening.

"I don't think you understand Malfoy. I have no fucking idea what happened last night. I went to sleep in my room last night and woke up, in here without any fucking clothes on. If you had nothing to do with this either, as you claim, then I think somebody else set this up."

"Who knew you used such colourful language Granger. I could get used to that. Always had a bit of a fetish for a woman with a dirty mouth." Malfoy looked at her with his trademark smirk and was rewarded with her losing what little composure she had left.

"Well the only time you're ever going to here my "dirty mouth" Draco Malfoy is when I tell you to fuck off and leave me the hell alone. You can get off to that if you really want to, but I won't elaborate any more than that."

"I hate to break it to you Granger, and as much as it kills me to say this, but I think we're going to be stuck together for a long time, so I guess you had better_ learn_ to elaborate, because if that mark on your hand means anything, we are legally husband and wife, and in the wizarding world there is no way to change that."

If this was any other time, or situation Draco would have rejoiced at the fact that he had managed to render Hermione Granger completely and utterly speechless. But this wasn't another time, or situation and at this particular point Draco's words had not only hit Hermione they had hit him. He realised that there was no other realistic explanation of those marks. They had been married the night before with the darkest magic possible, binding them together forever, it was so strong not even death could break the spell. And not only that but this type of dark marriage forbids any type of infidelity between the two, physically or mentally. That meant that Hermione Granger, the Gryfindor mudblood, was the only girl he would ever sleep with for the rest of his life, and there she was, only minutes ago, denying him the right to shag her. Well, for starters, that was going to change, he was going to shag his wife whenever he wanted, regardless of her protests. But he had a feeling that many other things were going to change drastically to, and there was nothing he could do to prevent that from happening.

**A/N: This is my first fanfic, and I'm open to constructive criticism, but putting this simply – if you don't review and tell me what you don't like then I can't do anything to change it. Hope you enjoyed it and hopefully you'll want to know what happens next.:)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise I don't own**

What is she going to do now? This was **not** meant to happen. She was **not** meant to be taken away in the middle of night, without her knowledge and get married with the use of dark magic to her best friends enemy, who happens to be on the dark side, on a day when they could possibly be only months away from full frontal war. This did **not** fit her plans at all. She was going to start her last year at Hogwarts in a week, and was fully devoted to the order. Why didn't she keep that time turner. It could have reversed this entirely, but no, she was noble and handed it back, and now she is stuck being the wife of a pure blooded, arrogant, egotistical, bouncing ferret. How life mocks her. A thought suddenly occurs to her; she is no longer Hermione Granger, but now she is Hermione Malfoy.

She sat down on the bed she woke up in only a few hours ago, defeated. She could think of no way out of this predicament. She looked at the mark on her left hand. She knew Malfoy had the same mark on his left hand, and she noticed how he paled when he saw it. Only a few people use dark magic at their wedding nowadays, with the mark, changing ever so slightly to suit the personalities of the couple, as proof of the ceremony. She knew the laws of a dark magic wedding as well as Malfoy did; and there was no escape. They were bound together for as long as life itself, if not longer, and they had many other charms, some which they would have no idea of, entwined with their marriage vows that included a fidelity charm, meaning neither one could cheat on the other. They were truly and utterly stuck together for eternity. The fact that they were bound so finally, without a chance of escaping made Hermione wonder who had arranged this. A lot of planning must have gone into this, to make sure it occurred without a hitch, and that meant that there was a very specific reason for it to have happened. Especially as it was done without their knowledge. Whoever organized this knew they would have protested, which meant they knew all about Hermione and Draco and they also knew that they were both together in this particular room, and could possibly be watching them.

Hermione looked up and saw Malfoy pacing around the room. He looked troubled and she could make an educated guess as to why. The reason was plain and simple, yet the consequences were far from that. She was a mudblood, he was a pureblood, they hated each other and they were married. That immediately meant trouble. But they could sort something out about that later. Now Hermione's priority was to get them out of the room to talk properly, without anyone realising what they were up to. The difficulty was that if anybody was watching them, she couldn't just yell it across the room. She had to get Malfoy to realise it before anyone else caught on. Writing it down was too suspicious because that could make it look like she was hiding something and it would be easy for anybody to check what she wrote. So how can she pass a message to Malfoy and make it look like a normal exchange. There was only one way she could think of. And she hated the thought of it.

"Malfoy" Hermione said softly, trying to get his attention. It didn't work. She tried a different way to get him to notice her.

"Draco" That word definitely got his attention. It was completely out of the ordinary. He stopped pacing and just stared at her.

Hermione took a deep breath. "Draco, look, I was thinking. We are legally a couple now, aren't we? Well there was something I was dying to do, in all the years we've gone to Hogwarts." She started to walk towards the frozen boy; no he was no longer a boy, but a man. Hermione's voice started to get husky subconsciously. "I heard all about your talents from every girl in our year. Even from girls that weren't in our year. Lavender, especially, would never shut up about how absolutely _great _you were. I want to see if that was all talk or whether it was actually true."

Hermione was now standing directly in front of a vaguely interested looking Malfoy, hating herself for doing this. She traced his jaw line with her finger and started to lean forward, so her face was level with his. When her lips were only a fraction away from his, she whispered huskily, "Would you mind?" Malfoy's only reaction was to smirk at her, as if he wanted to say 'I knew you would come to your senses about me', but didn't want to ruin the mood. However, instead of immediately kissing him on the lips, as Draco was expecting, she pressed her lips lightly on his chin, and started to kiss up his jaw line, towards his ear. Once she got there, she started to lick his ear lobe and suck on it. As soon as he had relaxed, feeling comfortable that this was no trick, she subtly whispered in his ear "We're being watched, we need to get out of here"

She suddenly tore her lips away from his ear and pressed them on her new husband's, as she wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him no time to react from her statement. Hermione only meant it to be a short kiss, so Malfoy wouldn't say anything stupid to screw up her plan, but Draco had other plans, using his tongue to deepen the kiss. They stood there for ages; their tongues battling for dominance, all their hatred towards each other being released in this passionate kiss. Hermione knew she definitely should have stopped the kiss by know, but the traitorous part of her body told her that she was enjoying this way too much. Draco had wrapped his arms around her waist and now they were starting to travel upwards on her body, exploring her curves. She moaned into the kiss and could feel Draco smirk. That was all it took for Hermione to come to her senses and break the kiss, using all her strength not to slap him for making her feel good about that kiss. Making her like it. Making her want more.

"So, did I live up to your expectations?" A very satisfied Draco asked.

"You were better". Hermione looked shocked at her answer. That wasn't meant to come out. She was going to say some smart remark about how **she** had had better. Not that he was great. He's never going to let her forget that.

Draco was still holding her around the waist and he looked at her, knowing that she didn't mean to say that. The thought had never occurred to him that anyone was watching them, and he was a little annoyed that Granger thought of it first. He knew that if there was a spy somewhere it was crucial to get out of that room, but he might as well make Granger a little flustered first.

"I **was** better wasn't I" Malfoy smirked. "There are also plenty of other things that I'm better at. And considering you will '_never get into my bed willingly_', there are plenty of other places I can show you what they are." He paused, waiting for her reaction. He was disappointed at first, because he didn't get the response he expected. But the one he got was better.

Hermione however, had caught onto where this was leading, and had also realised that Malfoy was trying to make her flustered and embarrassed. Well, she would show him. She was not someone to mess around with. She closed the gap between them, so her body was touching his and whispered, "I want you to show me all the good things you can do to me Draco. But I think we should continue this somewhere else, don't you" And with that, her mission had been accomplished. They had a perfect way to leave the little room, and not get anyone suspicious, and she showed Draco Malfoy that there was no way he could intimidate her. 

Within seconds Draco grabbed her arm and they apparated away.

Hermione felt the unforgettable sensation as the room swirled around her and a faint crack was heard, and the familiar surroundings of Diagon Alley came into view. She spun around and glared at Malfoy.

"You took us to Diagon Alley? A place that all the wizarding population of London goes to, which means that there are at least 5 people, if not more, that know us here. That could see us at any second, and could ask us why the hell are we, Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger, standing together in the middle of Diagon Alley."

"It's not Granger anymore is it?" He snarled in defense. He knew it wasn't the smartest move, but it was the best he could think of at the time.

"Argh you smug bastard Malfoy. We have to go somewhere nobody will recognise us." She started to drag Malfoy to the Leaky Cauldron, carefully avoiding the area, people that would recognise them would be. Once they had got there, she walked him over to the door that led to muggle London, where he suddenly stopped.

"NO. I am not going into muggle London. I refuse. I will not dirty myself with the muggle things in there." Draco had never been in muggle London before and they way that his parents had described it, there was no civilisation and that there was dirt everywhere. What he didn't expect was for Hermione to drag him through the door and for nothing to look different at all.

"Why the hell did you take us to Diagon Alley, who knows what type of people would have been there Malfoy. We could have apparated into a group of Death Eaters and then we would have been as good as dead."

"I just figured they wouldn't expect us to go here. They would have thought we'd go to a place to shag or something like that. I mean that was what was about to happen." The smirk just would not leave his face today, it seemed to Hermione, but her reaction did nothing to make it go away, if anything it just made it worse.

"You…you thought I would actually shag you? Me? You have got to be kidding. The thought just makes me want to throw up"

"Look Granger. We are not allowed to cheat on each other, which means if you ever want to shag again for the rest of your life the only possible contender is me. So you're going to have to get over yourself and deal with the fact that eventually you _are_ going to need a shag and you're going to have to come to me to get it. But at the moment I think we have a few more problems than your reluctance to shag me. We are married, which means that everyone is going to find out sooner or later; that is if they don't already know. Who knows what happened last night. What I do know, though, is that if my father finds out that I have married a** mudblood** I am as good as dead. And that goes for you as well."

Surprisingly, Hermione looked like she had solved the problem already. "I will find a way out of this. There has to be a loophole somewhere, but until then we need to maintain our safety. I hate to say this, because it destroys my identity, but if the problem is that I'm a muggleborn, then we are just going to have to change that. We can't kill me off thankfully, because you would still be affected by the wedding vows, so we just have to turn me into a pureblood."

Draco took a deep breath and started to explain very slowly, hoping Granger would pick up the problem with her previous statement. "Granger, I don't think you have understood the concept of pureblood and mudblood. You become a pureblood if your parents are both magical and you become a mudblood if your parents are both filthy muggles. You can't turn a muggle into a magical person, and even if we can, your pureblood status would still be way below mine, which is just as bad."

"Malfoy. I'm not saying we change anything about my parents. **But I am a witch; I can do magic**. All we need to do is find a pureblood family that has a very high status, apply a few very strong memory charms and I become their long-lost daughter, who happens to be a pureblood. Of course, you knew all along and we fell in love and decided to get married. Simple as that; however disgusting that may seem."

"I suppose that could work. But there is one big problem you haven't though about yet…"

**A/N: I'd like to thank all the people that reviewed my story; solodancer, Blue-blood Princess, Mystery Star, Mya-Chan4861 and panchat. I wasn't expecting that many reviews, especially such good ones so thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you and thank you**

**Hopefully this chapter is still good, and what I said about the reviews in the last chapter still stands: if you don't review and tell me what you don't like then I can't do anything to change it. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise I don't own**

_**Last Chapter:**_

"_I suppose that could work. But there is one big problem you haven't though about yet…"_

_**On with the story:**_

Hermione looked sceptical, she never leaves out important details. Who was he to imply that she had. "And what might that be?"

"That someone has gone out of their way to get us married and now they could be watching us. They will know that you're not a mudblood. We might even have tracking devices on us for all we know. It's impossible to know what happened last night, and now we have to go sneaking around changing history just so we can survive. This is completely ludicrous. Not only that, but out of all the people I could be married for eternity to; it's you. Hermione Granger: Gryffindor princess and know-it-all prudish bookworm."

"I don't see what the problem is." Hermione said simply, having no idea what Malfoy was going on about. It was almost as if he was just jealous that he hadn't found a good solution so he was trying to undermine hers, and he was just stalling until he could think up an appropriate dilemma. Well she wasn't going to stand for that. If she had to spend the rest of her life with Malfoy she was going to show him that she was 100 times better that all that pureblood nonsense he was full of.

"All I'm saying Granger –"

"You said it yourself, my name is no longer Granger. You can't call me that anymore." A very smug Hermione pointed out.

"Do you want me to call you mudblood?"

"Technically you won't be able to soon" She remained smug.

"Then I'll have to call you Granger regardless of any recent changes." Draco sighed impatiently. "All I'm saying is that we don't have a good reason why you've suddenly become a 'pureblood'. It will look suspicious if you turn up at school after 6 years and say 'Oh, by the way I am a pureblood, and not a low, disgusting mudblood.'" Draco used a high pitched and girly voice to imitate Hermione. He knew it wasn't really that much of a problem, in fact he knew that it would be east to think of a cover story; he was just pissed off that he hadn't thought of a good idea, and he wasn't going down without a fight. He knows that Granger is way below him and she shouldn't make him feel stupid and insignificant. She shouldn't have brought him into a dirty muggle place in the first place, and, from the looks of things, they were now standing in a disgusting alley, which were naturally ten times worse than wizarding alleyways. _And _Hermione Granger definitely should **not **make him feel worthless. He was a Malfoy for Merlin's sake.

"I would say that there are two possibilities of the person who organised this whole thing." Hermione had learnt to ignore the times that Malfoy insulted her. He only did it to get a reaction out of her and she refused to give him that kind of satisfaction. Instead she just focuses on something more important and doesn't even acknowledge what he calls her, no matter how hard it might become. She continued. "Because you are from the dark side, it's possible that You-know-who planned this as part of his sick plan, to either get rid of you for marrying a muggle-born, or get me onto the dark side. The other possibility is that Dumbledore arranged this whole thing to get you to join the order and become a spy. Whichever one it is though, I want to strangle them with my bare hands."

The feeling's mutual but we_ are_ going to have to learn to get along. If we are going to survive this war being married, not only to we have to bear each other's company, but we also have to pretend to be in love. Which includes being on public display, all the time; every minute, of every hour, of every day. Not only that but we will have to show enough affection to make this 'marriage' look…"

Before Draco could finish his rant, both he and Hermione heard two voices approaching the alleyway that they were standing in. To Draco's horror, one of them sounded oddly familiar. Too familiar. As the person spoke again, it only took him a second to figure out who it was. It was his father. He froze. He knew that his father couldn't catch him in the middle of this alleyway with a mudblood. He would most definitely be killed on the spot. But he had also worked out that he couldn't get out of the dead end alleyway without his father seeing him in the process. He couldn't apparate, because he had no idea where to go, and the crack would alert his father someone was there. As his brain rapidly thought up multiple scenarios of how to escape from this particular situation he noticed Hermione standing next to him, doing the same thing. He felt a challenge; he had to be the one to think of a good idea, so he could show Hermione that he had money, good looks _and_ brains. He started to think; what do most teenagers do whilst in an alleyway? As long as his platinum blonde hair isn't obvious, they can pass as normal muggle teenagers; he shuddered at the thought. And what do normal muggle teenagers do? Obviously, they snog.

Unsurprisingly, for Draco, the thought of making out with a mudblood was too disgusting for words. He knew that she was the only way he was going to be able to release his sexual frustrations but he really didn't want to fuck her; at least not yet. Although, to speak the honest truth, he was highly enjoying attempting to embarrass her about the concept of sex. He knew she must be a prude and still be a virgin. Who would really lower themselves to the standard of a mudblood? But he also knew that if he didn't hide himself from his father he would die. He could have gotten away with being in an alleyway with a mudblood if they were not in the muggle world, but if he was caught being in the muggle world, his father would jump to the complete wrong conclusions and he was always the type to act first and ask questions later. However, after the display this morning from Hermione, he knew she had a bit of talent up her sleeve. He might as well make the most of what he had. Conflicted between admiring himself for coming up with a foolproof plan, and hating himself for willingly setting himself up to lock lips with a mudblood, he quickly grabbed Hermione's arm and dragged her towards him, as he backed into the wall of the alleyway, he need to live, winning his inner conflict.

"Look Granger, my father is most likely going to walk into this alleyway, and he is going to kill me if he sees me here with you. So we need a way to hide my body and hair from my father, so if we start to snog in the shadows, he won't notice us, and even if he does, he wont bother us." Expecting her to nod and agree, like all the other girls do when it comes to being physical with him, she surprised him once again, when she didn't.

Instead, she suddenly stepped backwards, out of his grasp. "That's your answer for everything isn't it Malfoy. You just always have to resort to sex don't you?"

Draco couldn't understand Hermione's change in attitude. "So it's good enough for you to think it up this morning is it, and not good enough for me to do the same? Or is it not the idea that you have a problem with, but the fact that you actually _like_ doing it?" he smirked.

Hermione huffed in response. He was dead right. She didn't want to do it again, purely because she knew it would give him power over her if he knew she enjoyed it. And admitting that he had power would make her life hell. But, thinking about it rationally, she realised that they were running out of time. They didn't have any other way out of the alleyway and the voices were drawing nearer every second. She hated being wandless, it made her feel so exposed, so with a sigh she pulled off her top, making her feel even worse, and walked closer to Malfoy, resigned to her fate. Malfoy's eyes widened as she took her top off, and then started to explore the newly exposed skin. They definitely liked what they saw. He smirked.

"I thought you liked me Granger, but to start undressing already is being a little optimistic isn't it?"

"For your information Malfoy I'm not undressing so you can feel me up, I figure that** if** you father had anything to do with last night's events he would know what I was wearing. You had better do the same, its better to be safe than sorry. Wouldn't want to be caught out for something stupid, especially if we have to go to such lengths to hide from the inevitable." She said in a hushed whisper. As an after thought she added "And you had better hurry up, because they are almost here."

Draco quickly discarded his shirt and drew Hermione to him, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his lips to her, deepening the kiss, just in the nick of time, as his father and companion came into sight, and only saw two half naked teenagers snogging in shadows of the alleyway. During the process and panic of trying to hide, the reason why his father was in an alleyway in muggle London never occurred to him.

From where they were situated, both Draco and Hermione were able to hear what the two intruders were saying. One was Lucius and the other one was obviously a woman, but one which neither teenager could recognise from her voice.

"There are two teenagers standing in the shadows, Lucius. Should we dispose of them?"

Draco almost froze, and felt Hermione tense up. He hadn't thought that by pretending to be muggles, his father would not hesitate to dispose of them, as the woman had so bluntly phrased it. He realised what a risky plan he had forced Hermione into. He has stupidly sent them to their death sentence. He froze as he waited for Lucius to respond.

"Don't worry about them. They are probably too involved with each other to even notice that we have been standing here for a while. However, I think we have more important matters to take care of."

That surprised Draco. He expected Lucius to rise to the challenge of 'disposing' them. What he didn't expect however, was for his father to ignore them. That should have made him realise that something was wrong. That something was different about his father. But Draco was never brought up to wonder about why anything happened. To wonder why his father just happened to turn up in muggle London, in the exact same place as he was, and not hurt them in any way. Instead he just accepted that it was happening and the fact that he just had to deal with it.

Lucius continued. "I know that you aren't telling me something and that something has everything to do with Draco Malfoy. You know exactly what is going on, and unless you want to die I think you should tell me."

The woman's voice seemed defiant to Draco. She didn't seem to sound threatened by Lucius at all.

"I don't know what you are talking about, but even if I did know, I wouldn't tell the likes of you. So why don't you go and tell the dark lord that I didn't tell you anything that is going on with the damn boy. I don't see why you can't find someone else to torture, I wont put up with it anymore. And we both know that you can't kill me, I am too important for that."

Lucius sighed impatiently, choosing to ignore the woman's previous statement and knowing that he wasn't going to get an answer yet. He would have to take another approach, another time. "I swear once I get my hands on that boy I will kill him." he sounded furious and with those final words he apparated away, leaving behind an equally frustrated woman. It was only then that Draco snuck a glance at the woman who was left standing there. Out of all the women it could have been, the one it was, surprised him so much, he almost gasped aloud, if it wasn't for Hermione's lips over his.

Once he heard the woman's retreating footsteps a few minutes later, he began to notice the embrace the both he and Hermione were in. Her hands were up around his neck, one trying desperately to cover the obvious blonde of his hair and his hands had travelled down to the top of her thighs, pressing her body to his, leaving no space in between them. He was surprised that he hadn't noticed the fact that he had gotten very hard, but it was very clear now, and he unconscious grinded into Hermione, trying to release some of the tension. She responded in a way that made it worse, more uncomfortable, instead of helping to get rid of it. They had completely disregarded their situation, unaware of what might have been going on in the alleyway as the kiss started to become almost rough, as their pent up emotions came out, the hatred between one another, the terror of their recent situation, the desperation of never kissing another person again and the hopelessness of the entire situation they had been wrapped up in against their will.

Only when both Hermione and Draco had lost their energy, drained by the psychologically demanding day did they break the kiss and slowly step away from each other, both unaware of their mutual feeling of awe for the other. They stared at each other in a daze before a loud bang in the distance broke the connection. Over the day they had been moving around so quickly that the reality of what has occurred hasn't really set in until this moment. And now the fact the Draco's father wanted to kill him has complicated things even more. It seemed like their was no rest for either of them, but they both knew what they had to do first, which was to secure their safety before anything else could happen.

"We really need to make me into a pureblood now" Hermione whispered, as the slowly walked out of the alleyway together, completely unaware of how many changes were going to occur due to this day. How much each of them were going to change; for the better, or the worse, nobody could guess.

**A/N: Once again I'd like to thank all the people that reviewed my story; it always feels good to hear some feedback **

**I had major writers block and ended up re-writing this around 6 times, so I hope its ok, its probably not one of the best chapters, but there is some crucial information in this, which will make more sense later down the track, but everything needs to be set up first. But I promise that things are going to be getting more interesting from now on, because in the next chapter or so, they'll be going off to Hogwarts, which guarantees some fun.**

**But anyway; if you don't review and tell me what you don't like then I can't do anything to change it.**

**Thank you again to all those who reviewed, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise I don't own**

**A/N By the way this isn't HBP compliant, only because it would complicate the story line up even more, and I'm trying to keep it as simple, yet as interesting as possible.**

Hermione woke up with a gasp. It was the nightmare again. She never felt safe when she had it; it was too vivid, too horrific. Opening her eyes and seeing an unfamiliar ceiling did nothing to reassure her. Where was she? As she sat up and looked around the room, she saw the one person who caused all of the events of the previous week to come rushing back to her mind. All the horrible events. She groaned. All she wanted to do now was to go back to sleep: nightmares or not. At least there she wouldn't have to deal with the reality of the world. The reality of being married. The reality of being Mrs Malfoy.

It was September 1st. The day she left for Hogwarts. It was 3 weeks before her 18th birthday, and normally this day was a fantastic day, the day that she returned back to her home in the Gryffindor tower and met up with her good friends. It had been a day to look forward to for the past 6 years, but she knew that she was definitely not looking forward to catching the Hogwarts Express for the final time today. It was always known that this year would be different. After all, it was their last year in Hogwarts and the war against Voldemort was drawing near, which was bound to cause tension between anyone old enough to realise the seriousness of the situation. However, what was going to happen later on this day would change everything, and add to the tension between the students of Hogwarts. She hadn't seen her friends for two months, and normally Hermione would have said 'what could possibly happen in two months tat could change your entire life?' But in this case, she was wrong. Dreadfully wrong. Anything can happen in 2 months and the strangest thing about this summer was that everything was normal, until a week ago. In seven days she had managed to change her entire past and consequently, her future. Today was the day that she was going to have to tell her best friends that she was married to Draco Malfoy. The pure blooded, arrogant, egotistical, bouncing ferret, and the worst thing was that she had to act like she was in love with him.

Well, at least that was the plan. Both she and Malfoy had spent the past few nights arguing about their story, in which the reason for their sudden and surprising marriage would be told to every student at Hogwarts. The cover story they _finally_ chose was a fairly simple one, and if they were any other couple, it would have only taken ten minutes to think up and agree on. But it wasn't another couple. It was them. Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. Malfoy would argue, not for his cover story being the better and more believable one, but for a means to maintain his pride, for he saw submitting and agreeing with a mudblood truly damaging to any pride he has in himself at all. But in reality, if Hermione was being reasonable and thought about their constant arguments, and wasn't too wrapped up with her hatred towards Malfoy, she would have realised that she did exactly the same thing, letting her pride get in the way of her reason, which caused the conflict between them to evolve into a war.

Hermione started to get up from the couch in which she had slept on for the night. Actually she had slept on the lumpy and uncomfortable couch for the past 6 nights, starting the night both her and Malfoy had found out that Lucius wanted to kill his only son. They had needed a place to stay, and knowing the Malfoy Manor, with endless rooms of luxury, was out of the question Hermione had to think of a place for Malfoy to stay in, seeing as he refused to think for himself. Figuring that at least one person would be trying to find them, to see the developments of the night that they had been married, for whatever reason, Hermione knew that they had to keep a low profile, to give them time to adjust without any interference. She would have taken him to her own house but she knew her parents would flip at the idea that she got married at the age of 17. It just didn't agree with their life long morals, so she would have to give them some time before she broke the news and introduced her husband to them. Actually she probably wouldn't ever talk to them again. She was going to become a pureblood before she went to Hogwarts, and that would mean forgetting about her biological parents and their house. That made a tear escape Hermione's eye every time, she didn't want that to happen, but it already had. So the only place left for them to stay, was a hotel of some sort. A muggle hotel, if they wanted a low profile. She will **never** forget Draco's reaction to that.

After she had finally managed to convince Malfoy that going to a muggle hotel would not damage his reputation in anyway possible, seeing as nobody there would recognise him, including anybody who might be looking for them specifically, and that he would not die as a result of congesting too much dirty muggle air, she checked both of them in for two single rooms. However at the time, there was only one room left, so they could either take it or leave it, as the receptionist so _kindly_ put it. Sighing, Hermione agreed and payed for the room, just to get them into a place that would allow them to sleep for the night. If only she had realised at the time by agreeing to get one room, and forcing Malfoy and her to share, she would have been left sleeping on the forgotten couch, as Malfoy got all the benefits of the lovely bed that was provided with the room. He claimed that he needed it to maintain his good posture and he wouldn't sleep anywhere else; and she refused to go within a metre of him at all times, due to the unnerving _events_ that occurred between them, the first day they found out that they were married. So that caused Malfoy to end up sleeping on the bed and she would sleep on the couch. Every night. Of course, if she ever dared to breathe the word 'unfair' to him, he would purely smirk at her and remind her that she's the one that didn't want to be anywhere near him, not the other way round.

They had spent three days trying to find a pureblood family for Hermione. Malfoy insisted that the 'Spungen' family was one of the highest pureblooded families that existed in the wizarding world, and Hermione, as much as she loathed the fact that she would have to be called Hermione Spungen, (it took a couple of days for her to realise that she would be called Hermione Malfoy now, regardless of her maiden name) swallowed her pride after three days of solid arguing, and went on the hunt for her 'new family'. With both Hermione's and Draco's brains working together, and if asked, both teenagers would profusely deny that they were working together in any shape, size or form, they found the Spungen mansion quite easily, due to its enormous size. The Spungen family only consisted of two people, Jack Spungen and his wife, yet they were the hardest people to locate in a mansion as big as theirs. Once discovered however, their memories were easy to modify, so easy that Hermione suspected a trap, but luckily, no deception was afoot.

It was in only a matter of minutes and rather reluctantly, that Hermione Granger became Hermione Spungen, a pureblood who is the daughter of Jack Spungen, that was hidden in the muggle world for almost 18 years for her own protection and was finally tracked down and told the 'truth' about her blood and lineage. That was the story that Draco had come up with and Hermione reluctantly agreed with, and it seemed that the whole of London bought the story, due to the amount of coverage from the Daily Prophet on this particular event, to Hemione's frustration at Malfoy's successfulness.

As Hermione stood up, Malfoy started to stir, which was just as well in Hermione's opinion, because they needed to leave for the Hogwarts express in an hours time, and she did not want to wake the sleeping teenager up. He was not a morning person. She knew that they were going to have a very interesting year ahead of them, and that they were going to have to become at least civil with each other sooner or later, and give up with all the nonsense of hating each other and fighting constantly. There was no other way that they could pretend to be in love with each other if she constantly flinched each time he touched her, or he avoided her like the plague, which is what had been happening in the past few days. Hermione had to spend time with her 'new family', and Malfoy would escape whenever he possibly could, leaving them to meet up at their hotel in the evenings only, where they would fight constantly about anything and everything.

Before long, both Draco and Hermione had packed their trunks and were preparing to floo to platform nine and three quarters, and as the minutes were counting towards the time Hermione saw Ron, Harry and Ginny again, she was getting more and more nervous. The only thing that she could focus on, to try and distract her mind was the mystery of who arranged for her to get married, and why? By becoming a pureblood, would that change the plans that somebody had in store for them, or would it not affect them at all? All these questions, and many more were spinning about in her head, and she had no idea what she was doing, it was like she was on cruise control. She didn't realise that she had spent an entire morning being civil with Draco Malfoy, was actually walking alongside him in a public place and that instead of fighting, they were in a comfortable silence. She didn't realise that once they had arrived at the Hogwarts Express, she had let Malfoy take her trunk and put in on the train for her and she didn't realise that in her state of unawareness that she had thanked him for it; something that she had never said to him in the entire history of their relationship, if you can call it that. In fact the only thing that brought her out of her thoughts, was the one thing she had been dreading the whole day. It was hearing a group of familiar voices greet her with:

"Hey Hermione! How were your holidays? We want to hear_ all_ about them."

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I sped through this part because I really just want to get them to Hogwarts so they can start getting some answers and start to interact between each other better, and this part is really boring in comparison, but please can you keep reviewing just to let me know what you think, or what I can do better. I would really appreciate it.**

**Here's an interesting fact for the day: the name I used for Hermione's pureblooded family was the name JK Rowling originally meant to use as Draco's last name. **

**I'd like to thank those who have already reviewed, it always gives me a great feeling that when people review and I tried to get another chappie up as quickly as I could, but I've been really busy lately so I've had to fit this in to all the spare time I have left. Thanks again**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise I don't own**

**What happened last time:**

"_Hey Hermione! How were your holidays? We want to hear all about them."_

**Now on with the story:**

……

Great. How the hell was she meant to answer that? The first thing that she wanted to say was "Shit. Absolute Shit." But she couldn't say that, because over these holidays, Hermione was meant to have fallen in love. And when people fall in love, they think that everything is sunshine and rainbows, and they definitely would not say that their holidays were shit. So instead Hermione smiled, hugged all of her friends and said

"They were awesome! But I'm glad to be back. How were yours?"

Ron, Harry and Ginny all looked happy, which was surprising with a war looming in the shadows, but she supposed sometimes you just have to focus on having fun in the present. She started to tune out as everyone began to talk over each other, exclaiming how great their summer was. Well that was great for you, she thought bitterly. Why couldn't I have a great summer? She was intending to tell them about Malfoy in the evening, so she could have at least half a day with her friends, when they were actually being civil to her, but if she had known that he had other thoughts in mind, she would have told them right then and there. But she didn't, and that was probably mistake one.

……

To Draco, Hermione was acting really strange. He almost dropped her trunk when she said thank you to him. It was not what he had expected and it was putting him off. He was the one trying to make her uncomfortable, not the other way round. He had spent a few days in the last week, away from Hermione, and he found, to his utmost surprise that she had made the days they had together entertaining, instead of boring and monotonous, as they always had been before. Thinking of that, made him bitter. He shouldn't be thinking of her in a positive light. She took away his freedom. Regardless that she was now meant to be a pureblood, he knew the truth and to him, blood mattered. She was a person below him, _a mudblood,_ and he should **not **be thinking that she makes his day better because it's fun to argue with her, he should **not** be thinking that he wants to spend more time with her, and maybe, just maybe he might **not** hate her, and he definitely should **not** be thinking that she a pretty good kisser and has a undeniably feminine body, with the curves in the right place, and nice soft skin…Whoa, Draco get a hold of yourself. He shook his head to get the unwanted thoughts to go away. This is why he **hates** Granger. She has been able to make him lose control without knowing it: and nobody has been able to make him lose control before. Imagine what would happen if she knew she had that power. He dreaded to think about that. Maybe it was time to show her that he was in control. He looked over to where she was standing with all of her friends, obviously she hadn't told them yet, because they were still happy and talking to her. He would soon end that. Its time they found out the results of Hermione's summer, on his terms, and not hers.

He walked over and stood next to Hermione, and noticed with satisfaction, that Potter's eyes automatically noticed him, and they started to darken as he tried to work out why in Merlin's name was he standing there. His voice was harsh as he alerted his friends of the fact that Draco Malfoy was standing there.

"What are you doing here Malfoy? Why aren't you bullying some first years yet? Or at least why aren't you with your friends."

Draco didn't want to be blunt with them, and tell them straight out. Instead, he thought it would be more amusing to be cryptic and see how long it would take for them to click. He smirked.

"Well you see, I got married over the summer, and my wife doesn't really like me bullying the first years. She seems to think that I need to put more energy into our relationships, instead of ruling the school, if you know what I mean"

It was Potter that spoke up again.

"Well it seems like you new wife isn't too impressed with you talents in bed, if you have to put more energy into it Malfoy. Who is the unlucky girl anyway?"

Damn. Potter had a good comeback for once. Well, Draco knew he had better.

"It's not my talents in bed that she's not impressed with. She likes them so much, she just has a habit of wanting to keep going, round after round, every night. She just wants to make sure that I don't get tired. She has one hell of an endurance level, and she is one hell of a _lion_ in bed. I was surprised you didn't already know that though."

This time it was the Weasel that spoke, seeming to notice that something wasn't quite right. Why would Malfoy be bragging to them specifically that he had a wife, unless it had something to do with them. However it was only the Weaselette that noticed Hermione's uncharacteristic quietness.

"So who is the _slut_ you married Malfoy?"

Draco thought now was the time to let them know that they had just called their best friend a slut. Life can really get good at times. Just to add more conflict, purely for his enjoyment, he wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist, and after a moment's hesitation, she lent back into them. He then lent down to her ear and whispered loud enough for the three people standing nearest to them to hear

"Haven't you told them yet 'Mione? I'm sorry, I thought you already had."

The penny dropped, and Draco tried to keep his face neutral, to show that he wasn't enjoying this too much. The face of Weasel was funny, in Draco's opinion, his mouth had dropped open and if it went any further, it would have touched the floor. But it was the denial in Potter's voice that made him lose his control and smirk at them.

"What are you talking about Malfoy? Hermione isn't stupid enough to marry you. I don't know what trick you're trying to pull but it's not going to fool us."

Draco didn't say anything after that comment, making it clear that he expected Hermione to say something, and prove to them what he was saying was actually true for once. So with a small voice she spoke up.

"It's no trick. I was going to tell you later on tonight, when we could talk properly, but I guess you knowing now isn't going to hurt. Draco and I got married a week ago, but we have been secretly dating for a while now. He treats me well and I think…" Hermione hesitated. "I think I've fallen in love with him."

"Hermione, can't you hear what you are saying. This is Malfoy. The prick. He hates you because you are a mudblood remember? Doesn't that matter to you?"

Draco found this incredibly entertaining, watching Potter try to talk Hermione out of something that was irreversible. However, he also felt Hermione getting weaker and less confident as the conversation got more heated. She started to rely on him to keep her standing, and she looked sad. Looking back after the event, he didn't know what made him do what he was about to do. Maybe it was the slight guilt that he felt at being the cause, or maybe it was just to keep up pretences and make it look like he cared, but he gave her a gentle hug, to reassure her and give her the confidence to continue. The necessity he had to do that scared him, he had never been that kind to another person before, but then again, nobody had been standing in his arms before, and they hadn't been getting weaker and becoming reliant on him. Trying to rationalise it didn't work either, because all that he could think of was the fact that he had been nice to another person, actually, he had been nice to Hemione Granger, without an ulterior motive. He started to focus on the conversation occurring again.

"Didn't you read the daily prophet? I'm a pureblood. I always have been. Sure Draco shouldn't have called me a mudblood, but he has apologised, and I have accepted it. It was all in the past, and we have to take the opportunities we get now, instead of waiting, because who knows what will happen in the future. I thought that you guys would be happy for me, that I've found someone to love, and that loves me back, but I guess my well being doesn't matter to you anymore."

During her speech, Draco noticed that Potter, Weasel and the Weaselette had all prepared to leave, and obviously Hermione had to, considering what she had said. But before they left, Potter had said one more cutting thing, as they all got onto the train.

"Malfoy's can't love."

That was all it took for Hermione to turn around into Draco's stunned arms and cry into his shirt. He had no idea what to do. So he just stood there.

……

Hermione didn't know what had come over her, but she found herself standing in Draco Malfoy's arms, crying. Maybe it was the fact that her friends had completely abandoned her, and let silly prejudices get in the way of her so called happiness. Maybe it was the fact that she completely agreed with her friends, but she couldn't let them know; she had to make it look like she was in love with Draco Malfoy. But even though she was crying into his shirt, she knew that he was the cause of the fight. She hated him, yet ironically, he was the only person she had left.

Soon, she knew that both of them had to board the train and she had to find her way to the Head's compartment. She was going to be head girl this year, and she didn't even think that Draco knew. She had found out when she was with the Spungen's, and had never gotten around to telling him. So she tried to stop crying, and picked her head up. Very quietly she thanked him, for the second time that day, and got onto the train with a hurried explanation of getting to the heads compartment.

She walked up the train slowly, trying to make herself as composed as possible, when she felt someone grab her wrist and pull her towards them. Without looking at them, trying to hide her tear streaked face, she heard them whisper a spell, and she felt her tears on her face disappear. Wondering who was thoughtful enough to do that, she looked up and saw her husband's stormy grey eyes. To say she was shocked was an understatement. He offered no explanation, instead, just started walking up the train alongside her silently. She knew that he wasn't the head boy, and she was wondering who would be, when they reached the heads compartment on the train. Before she opened the door however, she hugged him, a way of saying thank you, but still not a word passed between them, and she went into the compartment to see the head boy already standing there. Her first thought after seeing him there was; 'Someone up there must really hate me.'

……

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I managed to update really quickly this time. Please keep reading and reviewing. If you don't review and tell me what you don't like, or what you want to see more of, I can't change it. Simple as that. Thanks to those who reviewed my previous chapter. :)**

**I know that Draco is a bit OOC at the moment, but that's because he is struggling with what's going on, but I'm going to try and get him back into his usual character, unless anyone objects. I hope you stay tuned for the next chappie. Who is the head boy going to be??**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognise I don't own**

……

Draco couldn't believe what was happening. He was being nice to Granger. He shuddered visibly as he walked down the train looking for another slytherin. He needed to toughen up and remember who she was, and more importantly who _he_ was. He was a pureblood and she was a mudblood. He would **never** admit the hidden thought that lurked somewhere deep inside him, which told him that _if_, just _if, _she wasn't a mudblood she would have been his perfect match. She had intelligence, confidence – she wasn't afraid to fight with him and she also had a modest amount of beauty. What girl could be better for him that her? **No**. He** refused** to acknowledge that.

He had never had any girl near him before, in the way that Granger was. Sure he had slept with hundreds and knew exactly how to please them and obviously that required him to be near a girl physically; but it also usually involved a bed, no clothes, a private place with no other people and occasionally fire whisky. This thing going on with him and Granger involved clothes, a public place and _emotions._ All that politeness and all those tears, he didn't know what to do with them, and what was worse was that he had to be 100 sober when all of this happened. He felt like the giant squid out of water. Merlin help him, no wonder he kept slipping up and doing the wrong thing.

There was only one thing he could think of doing, to fix this entire mess of a problem. Make Granger feel inferior to him.** He** wasgoing to be in charge, **he** was going to decide what they were going to do, and **he** was going to make sure that there were absolutely **no** emotions involved from now on. He could not afford to be weak, especially as he was trying to hide from his father, who for some reason wanted to kill him. He had no idea why that would be. He had already worked out that it couldn't be about the fact he got married to Granger, because they themselves had only found out that they were married the morning before they unknowingly ran into Lucius. They hadn't told anybody, so nobody knew except for the person that had set this up and Draco had already decided that the Dark Lord and his death eaters had nothing to do with this. Marrying two people, a mudblood and a pureblood: a 'good guy' and a 'bad guy', against their wills had to be an act by somebody from the order. Only they were full of the shit that blood didn't matter, and everybody, deep down inside was good and that leopards could actually change their spots. Well not everybody in this world wore rose coloured glasses and Draco knew that. So who was it in the order that organised this, and why did they feel it so necessary to arrange it behind his back and not even offer a simple explanation. But what all this thinking was leading to, was that no person from the order would immediately tell his father that he was married to Granger, so what in Merlin's name did he do this time to have Lucius wanting to kill him? Being as clueless now, as he was when he first started to think about this whole mess, Draco decided to save these questions for a rainy day, and find something more productive to do with this long train journey. If only he could realise how wrong he was.

As Draco arrived at the final carriage, he walked inside to find all the Slytherin's. He wasn't very close with any of them, but in order to make sure he wasn't a loner, and to keep his popularity, he tolerated all the Slytherin's at Hogwarts. The was only one person that he talked to seriously sometimes, and that was Blaise Zabini, but Draco wouldn't really call him a friend. He really didn't need any proper friends. All that mattered was himself, and nothing had ever happened to him, past or present, that had forced him to reconsider that particular statement. What brought him out of his thoughts once again was Pansy, her voice loud enough for everybody in that particular carriage to hear, saying:

"Draco, there's been a horrible rumour going around the Hogwarts Express saying your married to that mudblood. Please tell me that it's not true."

"Look, I don't know what you've been told, but Hermione isn't a mudblood. She's a pureblood and a high ranked one at that. She's a _Spungen_." The last word was said in such a way that everybody knew it was important.

Draco had said that with such conclusiveness that no other person in the carriage dared to say another word on the topic. In fact, he sounded so furious that nobody had dared to make a sound immediately after he had spoken, and it was only until another Slytherin started talking about their holidays that everybody started to act normally again. Draco might not have had many friends, but he sure as hell had a lot of power, and nobody wanted to get on his bad side. Only one person in the carriage had picked up on the fact that he hadn't actually answered the question asked of him. It had been gracefully sidestepped and forgotten by everybody, who instead were preoccupied with the horror of saying the wrong thing. Of course, for Draco, that had gone remarkably well. Nobody had doubted what he said, and as much as he hated to admit it, the idea of giving Hermione a pureblood background, had saved a lot of hassles and made their 'relationship' more believable. The only thing he had to watch for was he himself calling her a mudblood in public – because that would ruin absolutely _everything_.

……

'Bloody hell' thought Hermione as she stood side by side with the Head Boy, listening to what her requirements and duties would be for the next year, and explaining to the prefects what their duties would be. Could things get any worse? She wasn't worried about what her duties were going to be or how hard the year was going to be, but instead _who_ the head boy was. It was none other than Harry Potter. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem, if he wasn't so tied up with the fact that she had married Draco Malfoy. She couldn't understand what was so awful about it from Harry's point of view. After all, it wasn't as if she was going to make them bond and be friends and it certainly wasn't Harry that was going to be stuck with him twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for eternity. Now, if that was what she was forcing Harry to do then she would understand why he was mad at her. But **no**. Instead it was herself that was subject to staying with Malfoy for the rest of her life, and by the looks of things, she was taking it better than Harry. And to Hermione, that made absolutely no sense.

As soon as the other prefects had left to patrol the corridors, the room was left with only Hermione and Harry in it, _alone._ To say that the silence was awkward would have been the understatement of the century. Hermione had no idea what to say, but she needed to break the silence somehow. Finally she decided to go with something simple.

"Harry, I hope you're not going to be mad at me forever."

No response. Hermione tried to think what she would have said if she was really in love with Malfoy and she had got married to him by choice. That was hard. She had always been a good liar, because everybody expected her to always tell the truth – and for obvious lies she made it clear that she was lying, and from then on everybody assumed she was a bad liar. But it was going to take an awful lot of talent to pull this off.

"I mean, I guess I understand if you are a little upset that I didn't tell you, but **you** have to understand, we had to make it public at the right time, to avoid any speculation."

Still no response but she could tell that Harry was getting tense. She didn't know why she wanted to anger Harry. She didn't know why she wanted him to lose his temper, but in a way she knew that by getting him to yell at her, it would be alright if she yelled back. And then she could scream at him and tell him that it's not all right for him to be mad at her, that it's not okay, the way he makes little digs and snide comments about her marrying Malfoy and that his behaviour hurts her deep down. Down where it really matters.

"Fine Harry. Have it your way. But remember, it's you who isn't talking to me, and eventually you are going to **have** to talk to me because we are going to have to work together for an entire year. Stop making this hard on me as well."

That was all it took. Harry lost his temper entirely.

"Don't. You. Dare. Blame. This. On. Me. You're the one who has run off and gotten married to the ferret. You have suddenly forgotten everything he has called you in the past; all the times he has made you cry. Doesn't that matter to you? When we first met, you were a girl who punched Malfoy, and certainly **never** would have forgiven him for all the money in the world. You thought he was a spoilt arrogant prat, and now you have married him, without even breathing a word about any of this to you _best friends_. What made you change? Why have you decided to abandon your friends? I hate you."

As he yelled at Hermione, the fact that he didn't say her name once didn't escape her notice. That hurt her, but not as much as the fact that he drew upon the fact that she had 'changed'. She knew that she hadn't, and that she would still punch Malfoy if she had the chance: but she couldn't tell Harry that. If she did the truth would come out, and then she would get into trouble with Malfoy, and who knows what would happen. So she just had to sit there and bare it. Hear all his taunts, and not be able to tell him the truth. That hurt her more that words could describe. But she couldn't let Harry win this argument as well. Her pride wouldn't let her.

"Look. I know you are finding this hard to deal with, but I haven't changed. I am still the same old Hermione – just with a different last name. I don't see why this is so bad. You don't have to talk to Draco. You don't even have to look at him. I'm not forcing you to be his friend. Our friendship, between you and me, has nothing to do with him. Why are you so mad Harry?"

Harry's voice sounded cold and detached as he answered her.

"Who said there is a friendship between us. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't. You have let yourself down. You are a slut. You are purely a death eater's wife."

After Harry had said that to her, Hermione suddenly thought that she had no idea whether or not Malfoy was a death eater. The thought had never occurred to her. Sure, she had known his father was – but to be married to one. Could she handle that? What could she say to Harry? Well, she had spoken too many lies to stop now.

"Draco is** not** a death eater. Don't you think I would know that already? No matter how much you hate me, do you really think I am stupid enough to be involved with a death eater? And I would know more than you would – I have seen his arm. And there is **nothing** there. You just didn't stop to think about anything except for yourself and what you think is right. Well I guess this has proven that you really are not my friend, because if you were you would be happy for me. And you're not."

She no longer cared if he believed her or not, because she was that angry with him. She wanted revenge. She wanted to make him so angry that he would know what she felt now. As the rest of the train ride continued in the awkward silence that it began in, Hermione's thoughts wondered to Malfoy, and what he was doing. Was he thinking of her? Did he even care what she was going through? She doubted it. Every so often prefects came, reported on the fights that occurred in the corridor, and left. To Hermione, the fights that were being described seemed so pointless in comparison to the big mess she was in at the moment. They all had simple solutions and were forgotten in a few days. If only Harry would forgive her as easily. But he wouldn't. She was left with the second best option to feel better, which was revenge. And after a very long train ride, spent entirely in silence, she knew exactly how she was going to do it.

……

**A/N: I'm sorry that it took so long to update this – I went away for a while and didn't have access to the internet!! **

**Well anyway – THANK YOU soooo much to everyone that reviewed my last chapter:) I really appreciated it. I hope this chapter was ok…and please keep reviewing; it really makes writing worthwhile.**

**Just wanted to get some input from all the readers – from this point forward there will definitely be some answers coming out – but what I want to know first is which side do you want Draco and Hermione to end up on. They can either both go to the dark side or they can go to the order – or Hermione can be part of the order and Draco part of the death eaters. If you can give me a preference of where you want them to end up I would appreciate it. Basically if people leave their preferences then I will go with the most popular one, but if nobody does then I will decide. Thank you, and I hope this isn't too weird, just wanted to let you readers have a choice:) **


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